Iwaruna.comhttp://iwaruna.com
The website of Sarah Liberman, containing a blog, gallery, recipes, and discussions about books, comics, food and software.Sun, 02 Aug 2015 01:23:45 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Hazelnut & date bars, with a touch of chocolatehttp://iwaruna.com/2015/07/21/hazelnut-date-bars-with-a-touch-of-chocolate/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/07/21/hazelnut-date-bars-with-a-touch-of-chocolate/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2015 00:21:23 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1544I’m rather picky about what goes into snack bars: What kind of nuts? (No walnuts or pecans, if I can avoid them.) And I’d prefer the absence of dried coconut. Not too sweet, as I don’t want a sugar rush that results in a headachey crash — dried fruits are good, as long as they don’t have additional sugar or honey. I don’t want a bar so chunky the nuts become a struggle to chew, or too pasty like…well, a uniform, unremarkable paste.

I didn’t realize how easy snack bars are to make, until I saw a recipe for peanut butter and chocolate energy bars. Dates are the perfect “adhesive” agent, as well as pleasantly sweet (but not too sweet). Why not use my ever-favorite hazelnut?

If you can, try to find blanched (already peeled/hulled) hazelnuts. If anyone knows a good, dependable domestic (North American) source, I’m all ears. Roasting them really makes a wonderful difference, too. Each bar is very filling! Great for pre- or post-exercise, or for traveling or a long commute; I wrap them in wax paper or parchment, then pop them in a zippy bag. I keep the bars refrigerated for longer term storage. They’re yummy either cool and firm, or room temperature and soft.

Method

Roast the hazelnuts in a 350ºF degree oven, stirring once or twice, until golden brown — about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Heat chocolate in the microwave until just melted. I usually heat in 30 second increments at 50% power,and stir; usually takes only 2 or three minutes. Set aside

Line a square pan, either 7×7 or 8×8 inches, with parchment or wax paper.

Roughly chop hazelnuts in a food processor. Add the dates and salt, and pulse in 10 to 30 second intervals until finely ground (see photo below), adding the chocolate midway. Inevitably, the mixture will become somewhat oily, but try to avoid making it a complete paste that’s very oily. Having the nuts at room temp or cooler somewhat reduces to oiliness.

Place the mixture into the lined pan, and firmly press it in with a paper towel. I usually go through 2 to 4 sheets of paper towels to help remove excess oil.

Chill in the fridge until firm, at least a couple hours or more.

Remove the mega-bar from pan and onto a chopping board. If needed, pat away more oil with paper towels. Slice into 16 equal-sized bars (or 24 bars, if you prefer them on the smaller side). Store in the fridge until ready for consumption.

This is what the ground mixture of all ingredients should look like at the end of step 4.

Step 5, dump it into the pan!

After some amount of pressing with several paper towels, and firming up in the fridge, after step 6.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/07/21/hazelnut-date-bars-with-a-touch-of-chocolate/feed/0Gluten-free flour mixeshttp://iwaruna.com/2015/06/08/gluten-free-flour-mixes/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/06/08/gluten-free-flour-mixes/#commentsMon, 08 Jun 2015 20:17:46 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1531Need a substitute for wheat or gluten-based flours? Look no further! Shauna the Gluten-Free Girl provides an excellent tutorial: Just weight out the ingredients, then toss to mix.

These are just a collection of gluten-free flour mixes that I’ve liked using in baking and thickening sauces. Recipes can be completely gluten-free, including brownies, financiers, and cornbread.

My preferred ones are tapioca, amaranth, millet, sorghum, and non-glutinous white flour. Bob’s Red Mill sells quite a few whole grain, non-gluten flours; well-stocked Asian grocers will carry white (non-glutinous, non-mochi) rice flour. I’ve tried brown rice flour, but it lends a gritty texture; and I usually like quinoa, but some people might find it tad bitter rather than nutty.

Equipment

A scale

Large enough container with a well-sealed lid

Method

Weigh your selected flours in the container. Cover it firmly, so that flour won’t proof out. Shake shake shake shake until well mixed.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/06/08/gluten-free-flour-mixes/feed/0Mint lassihttp://iwaruna.com/2015/05/01/mint-lassi/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/05/01/mint-lassi/#commentsFri, 01 May 2015 17:56:08 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1529It started with an avocado lassi: smooth, minty, and refreshing on a hot day with spicy food. The problem with avocados is that their season is limited—they peak in winter here in CA—and dishes made with them quickly go brown, also muddying the flavor. Slightly brown avocado lassi tastes icky. But I learned it was the mint and cumin combined with yogurt that were key.

This is a sweet version of what is typically a more savory (saltier) drink. The cumin and salt are important to open up the aromas, so try it out!

This drink is also really nice with ginger beer (or ginger ale), but if you use that, make sure at least one of the dairy components is whole milk based, or add a bit of cream. Carbonation has a tendency to curdle lower fat yogurt drinks.

Ingredients

a handful of spearmint leaves, washed and stems removed

2 teaspoons to 2 tablespoons sugar or honey, or to taste—omit if using ginger beer

Method

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/05/01/mint-lassi/feed/0A tutorial on using controlled vocabularieshttp://iwaruna.com/2015/04/11/a-tutorial-on-using-controlled-vocabulary/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/04/11/a-tutorial-on-using-controlled-vocabulary/#commentsSat, 11 Apr 2015 18:33:07 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1519As the last of the big projects in my Reference and Information Services course last semester, I created a (semi) interactive tutorial on understanding and using controlled vocabularies—specifically in the AGRICOLA database (freely searchable via USDA) and the Gale Virtual Reference Library encyclopedia (commercial, subscription required).

Once again, some caveats:

This is my first publicly accessible tutorial, so yeah, not “perfect.”

I used the Prezi desktop app during its free trial period, which I haven’t renewed. I won’t be editing it anytime soon, unless I wind up using Prezi more often (or, revisiting this topic with more tutorials).

The tutorial is not comprehensive: I don’t cover all the well known types of vocabulary structures (taxonomies, semantic web, ontologies); I stick mostly with thesauri here re: two kinds of online resources. Again, it’d be cool to revisit, but I don’t know when.

Unless you’re using Prezi’s mobile app, it requires Flash. Fwiw, the tutorial ran as expected when I viewed it on iOS.

Navigation and audiovisual playback might be a bit wonky. I prefer to use left and right arrows to step through the tutorial, but ymmv. Prezi might have fixed those issues by now.

I hope it is useful!

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/04/11/a-tutorial-on-using-controlled-vocabulary/feed/0Roasted hazelnut liqueurhttp://iwaruna.com/2015/03/27/roasted-hazelnut-liqueur/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/03/27/roasted-hazelnut-liqueur/#commentsSat, 28 Mar 2015 04:59:49 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1514For the longest time, the only hazelnut liqueur I had access to was Frangelico’s. It’s okay, but the almond and herbal components interfered with the toasty, rich hazelnuttiness I desire. There are others, but I hadn’t been able to find them in stores. With a large bag of skinned hazelnuts in the freezer, and sometips from Jeremy F., I decided to make my own. And it is good.

Ingredients

8 ounces (1/2 pound) hazelnuts (already blanched/skinned)

1 ounce vanilla sugar

1 1/2 ounces maple sugar

1 1/2 ounces light brown sugar

2 ounces sugar

2 1/4 cups vodka

Method

Roast the hazelnuts until golden brown, about 5 to 15 minutes in an oven at 350ºF degrees. Stir a couple times to evenly roast the nuts. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. They might look oily, but that’s fine (flavors in there!).

Roughly chop the nuts, either with a sharp chef’s knife, or as I’m likely to do: Place in zippy bag, partially seal, and crush them with a rolling pin (not into fine grains, though, still roughly). Pour into a 1-liter sized jar.

Add all the sugars on top of the hazelnuts. Pour in the vodka. Give a good stir with a large spoon.

Cap off and allow to steep in a cool, dark place (closet, pantry) for 14 to 25 days. Start taste-testing at around 14 days (and also to dissolve any remaining sugar bits), to see if the nutty flavor is to your liking. I usually repeat testing every 3 to 5 days.

Filtering the liqueur: This took quite a bit of time! First I poured everything though a quadruple-layer of butter cloth, a more finely woven cheesecloth. (I saved the nuts and vanilla, which I puréed and made into a cake.

Pour the liqueur into a jug or bottle that can be easily sealed (i.e., spill-proof). Store in the fridge until solids and oils separate—this might take a few days or up to a week, since the liqueur might be somewhat viscous.

Remove any floating solids and oils: I used an oral medication syringe. This step could be better optimized, I admit, so I’m open to other alternatives that do not filter out too much at the cost of flavor. The key is to remove as much of the water-soluble solids that float to the top, as they may become a mold hazard. I don’t worry so much about stuff that has sunk; as long as there’s enough alcohol and sugar, and low temperature storage. I also don’t mind if there’s a little bit of oil floating; it’s very tasty, and you’ll soon drink it up with the first few servings. I also try to wipe the inside of the bottle’s neck with vodka-moistened towel, to remove any gunk stuck there. I use vodka for any additional rinsing that might be needed, such as the syringe. I had to do this particular step a couple times. Prolonged, indeed.

The liqueur was wonderful after I had done the secondary filtration(s). I’m sure its flavor and smoothness will only improve with time.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/03/27/roasted-hazelnut-liqueur/feed/0What I read in 2014—and some things I watchedhttp://iwaruna.com/2015/01/15/what-i-read-in-2014and-some-things-i-watched/
http://iwaruna.com/2015/01/15/what-i-read-in-2014and-some-things-i-watched/#commentsThu, 15 Jan 2015 18:30:05 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1500Happy new year, and welcome to 2015 and the annual list of stuff I read in 2014. You’ve noticed that I have not for the longest time written an article on visual media like film or television, including animé. Sadly, my animé discoveries have been sparse over the last several years. But on the plus side of being in grad school, I’ve recently gotten back into watching more television—kind of as a format-induced way of recreation to contrast with all the reading I need to do—even though most of such reading is non-fiction!

As usual, (lightbulb icon) indicates a recommendation on my part, with the exception of the shorts section.

I have yet to be utterly wowed by a recent feature-length film (exceptions to follow), but I’ve found a few incredibly engaging tv series: Orphan Black; Elementary, better than BBC’s recent Sherlock, in spite of Cumberbatch’s excellent acting—Liu’s Watson is the best characterization, and I even found the Elementary‘s version of Moriarity the best yet; Person of Interest for obvious timely reasons; the web series Bee and Puppycat, because we all need more animated weirdness in our lives; Warehouse 13, except for its last season, alas; and Community as the delightful exception to my usual dislike of sitcoms.

Exceptional film recommendations (i.e., the ones I remember watching last year *ahem*): A Letter to Momo (2011, animé); Ida (2013, Poland); Starlet (2012); The Royal Tannenbaums (2001); Monsieur Lazhar (2011, Canada); and Her (2013). Why yes, I do fall behind easily with video media.

To jump to a section:

Comics and Art Monographs. Again, for some of the comics I started in the past, I have gone back and adjusted recommendations in the older posts.

Longer Fiction

DiTerlizzi, Tony. The Battle for WondLa, book 3 of the WondLa trilogy.

McKinley, Robin. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast.

McKinley, Robin. Rose Daughter.

Mohanraj, Mary Anne. The Stars Change.

Montero, Rosa. Tears in Rain.

Scalzi, John. Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome.

Schwartz, David J. Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic.

Thomson, Amy. Virtual Girl.

Wilson, Daniel H. Amped.

Shorter Fiction

Unfortunately, the past year’s list of my favorite short stories is abridged due to technical issues: namely iOS now requiring usage of a separate app which no longer allows ratings, and iTunes no longer tracking (at least in a way I could follow) my manual ratings in OS X. In any case, as with past posts, these shorts are the ones I gave top ratings to.

I recommend the following as excellent sources of short speculative fiction.

Pinsker, Sarah. “In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind” and “Join Our Team of Time Travel Professionals.”

Pratt, T.A. “Ill Met in Ulthar” (featuring Marla Mason).

Reed, Robert. “Mystic Falls.”

RoboNinja. “The Legend of RoboNinja.”

Rosenbaum, Benjamin. “Feature Development for Social Networking.”

Rosenblum, Mary. “The Egg Man.”

Rutkoski, Marie. “Bridge of Snow.”

Schneyer, Kenneth. “Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer.”

Shaw, Heather and Tim Pratt. “Seasonal Disorder.”

Shawl, Nisi. “Red Matty.”

Singh, Vandana. “Infinities.”

Sobel, Rachel. “The River Does Not Run.”

Spencer, William Browning. “The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness.”

Sriduangkaew, Benjanun. “Golden Daughter, Stone Wife” and “Sixty Years in the Women’s Provence”

Steinmetz, Ferrett. “Black Swan Oracle” and “Dead Merchandise.”

Tarr, Judith. “Made of Cats.”

“Thirty-Six Interrogatories Propounded by the Human-Powered Plasma Bomb in the Moments Before Her Imminent Detonation.” Read on Toasted Cake.

Tomaras, Joseph. “Bonfires in Anacostia.”

Treadwell, A.B. “Bakemono, or The Thing That Changes.”

Truslow, Tori. “Boat in Shadows, Crossing.”

van Eekhout, Greg. “Far as You Can Go.”

Vernon, Ursula. “Jackalope Wives.”

Wade, Juliette. “Soul’s Bargain.”

Walker, Deborah. “Glass Future.”

Walters, Damien Angelica. “The Serial Killer’s Astronaut Daughter.”

Walton, Jo. “Sleeper.”

Watt-Evans, Lawrence. “Why I Left Harry’s All-Night Hamburgers.”

Wheeler, Lillian. “ARIECC 1.0.”

Williams, Sean. “Face Value.”

Wilson, Alex. “Vestigial Girl.”

Wilson, Robert Charles. “Utriusque Cosmi.”

Yoachim, Caroline M. “Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion.”

Yu, E. Lily. “Ilse, Who Saw Clearly” and “Loss, With Chalk Diagrams.”

Non-fiction

This section includes textbooks and other materials I’ve used for graduate school. But, still, mostly food books.

Austerberry, David. Digital Asset Management, 2nd edition. Pricey, focuses primarily on video and broadcasting industries, and rather out of date for a rapidly developing field. Keathley’s book is much better, and more timely (as of this writing).

Baljekar, Mridula. The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook: 300 classic recipes from the great regions of India, shown in over 1500 vibrant photographs.

Keathley, Elizabeth Ferguson. Digital Asset Management: Content Architectures, Project Manangement, and Creating Order out of Digital Chaos. Also available as a free, abridged podcast from the author’s website.

McGlagan, Jennifer. Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes.

Wing, Charles. How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding and Maintaining Your Home. Otherwise helpful, except for the strange omission of residential photovoltaic systems in a book published in 2012!

Unfinished

Once again, some of this I abandoned out of disinterest (so many things to read, listen to, and watch, so little time!), but some I left incomplete because they are best digested in bits and pieces even though they were excellent resources. I have denoted the latter with the icon.

Note about food manga: I continue to be saddened that I cannot get into any of the food manga I’ve read over the past several years. I had hoped that the combination of medium and beloved themes (food culture and/or recipes in a manga format) would delight me. But as with Oishinbo, I have found that despite the subject matter, the characters and storylines (but especially the former) are either too self-absorbed or just too aggravating for me to keep reading. I hope I’ll eventually find a food manga to enjoy in the future—or, have more patience to retry works by Yoshinaga, Ishikawa, Kariya, et al. One of these years… :-\

Devine, Jane and Francine Egger-Sider. Going Beyond Google Again (2014, with companion site) and Going Beyond Google (2009). Many of the resources in the earlier book (Chapter 6, “A sample of tools for mining the Invisible Web”) are now defunct.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2015/01/15/what-i-read-in-2014and-some-things-i-watched/feed/0Satsuma liqueurhttp://iwaruna.com/2014/12/18/satsuma-liqueur/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/12/18/satsuma-liqueur/#commentsThu, 18 Dec 2014 19:45:08 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1488The satsumas were late this year, with fruit ripening through March. The sad thing is that now as winter approaches, there are hardly any fruit for the upcoming winter season. Perhaps the rains will help with next year’s harvest. In any case, earlier in the year I experimented with making satsuma liqueur, and found that less is more when it came to accompanying spices: Most anything other than vanilla (like cinnamon, star anise, cloves, allspice, or ginger) resulted in a drink as medicinal as an unremarkable cough syrup—without the pleasant citrus flavor! So here is a simple infusion that highlights satsuma’s subtle aromas.

Ingredients

8 ounces satsumas, washed and dried

1/2 to 1 ounce vanilla sugar, depending on its strength

1 ounce sugar

2 cups vodka

Method

Quarter the satsumas and place in a jar for steeping.

Add both sugar and vodka, and stir a bit. The sugars don’t have to completely dissolve; they will do so over the steeping period.

Seal and steep for 5 to 6 weeks, checking every week until desired strength is achieved.

Filter through double layers of fine cheesecloth. Allow to mature at least 2 months before consumption.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/12/18/satsuma-liqueur/feed/0An annotated bibliography of California horticulture resourceshttp://iwaruna.com/2014/11/17/an-annotated-bibliography-of-california-horticulture-resources/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/11/17/an-annotated-bibliography-of-california-horticulture-resources/#commentsMon, 17 Nov 2014 20:12:52 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1483Here is another project for the reference and information services course: An annotated bibliography of California horticulture resources for librarians, located at http://horticulture.wikidot.com. In addition to being a handy tool for reference librarians, I wanted to created this because of my interest in gardens and botany.

Again, some caveats:

This bib is aimed mainly at librarians who work in academic or special collection organizations. Some of the language is LIS-y. For instance, I use the term subscriptions to refer to paid (non-free) resources like serials (journals, magazines) and databases.

I’d love to continue to maintain this bib—especially for corrections and additions relevant sources. But because of my schedule, I don’t know how often I’ll be able to update it.

This uses Wikidot’s platform, currently with a free account. This means you might sometimes see ads near the top of the pages.

Wikidot is generally for creating wikis, and those sometimes offer collaboration. However, I have turned off editing and comments, due to scheduling and the bib’s objective as a tool rather than a forum.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/11/17/an-annotated-bibliography-of-california-horticulture-resources/feed/0A subject guide to webcomicshttp://iwaruna.com/2014/10/15/a-subject-guide-to-webcomics/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/10/15/a-subject-guide-to-webcomics/#commentsWed, 15 Oct 2014 23:26:01 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1480For my reference and information services course (Libr 210) I created a publicly accessible tool to introduce people to the glorious world of webcomics, located at http://libraryschool.libguidescms.com/webcomics. I was inspired to create this because I could not find a subject guide dedicated to webcomics. Sure, there are many that mention it (a page, at most), but they mostly focus on graphic novels, comics strips, and/or manga. Not a bad thing, obviously, but the webcomics world is so diverse and burgeoning, that I hope pointers in the form of a library pathfinder will present the medium in a friendly, organized way.

Oh, and because I love reading webcomics.

I hope you find this useful! Some caveats:

I’d like to continue maintaining this resource, but depending on my schedule I don’t know how often I’ll be able to update it.

This uses Springshare’s LibGuide platform, within a free sandbox environment. This means you might sometimes see an ad banner at the top of the page.

Because of the sandboxing, I do not know how long it will remain live. Indefinitely, maybe?

Because of the sandboxing, it’s missing some of the niftier features and designs that paid developers have access to. RSS does not seem to work, for example.

Since I needed to keep the lists of suggested webcomics short (not too long and ever-scrolling), there’s a chance your favorite might not be listed. There are tens of thousands of webcomics; it would be an untenable task for me to maintain that level of content. However, if there are webcomic resources (books, websites, videos, conventions, even scholarly sources) you would like to suggest (or corrections), please let me know. I cannot promise to add them, but they might make it in eventually.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/10/15/a-subject-guide-to-webcomics/feed/0Hazelnut financiers (also good with cashews)http://iwaruna.com/2014/08/20/hazelnut-financiers-also-good-with-cashews/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/08/20/hazelnut-financiers-also-good-with-cashews/#commentsWed, 20 Aug 2014 18:37:48 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1474Financiers (sometimes called friands) are a good way to use up egg whites, especially after a summer’s accumulation of making ice cream. Typically made with almond meal, I made these with a meal from roasted hazelnuts. Delicious. I also made another version with cashew meal, which were milder, but still tasty. In the future I might try this out with hazelnut meal that has been lightly roasted in a pan.

I didn’t have a financier baking pan, so instead used a 24-cavity brownie bite silicone pan (baked in two batches), where each mold is about 20ml (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon). A mini muffin pan would also work, but you might need to adjust the baking time if the volume is larger (or smaller). This recipe made 48 financiers.

(optional) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate discs; they’re larger than regular chips, at least twice bigger, depending on the brand — I like Guittard.

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F degrees.

Roast the hazelnuts in the 350ºF oven until aromatic and lightly browned — about 7 to 15 minutes, rotating once midway to evenly roast them. Wait until they’re cool enough to touch, then remove any remaining loose skin bits. Set aside to cool completely.

In the meantime, brown the butter in a sauce pan until the solids are orange-red (like paprika). Set aside to cool.

In a food processor, grind the hazelnuts, sugar, and salt into a meal. The meal might clump a little bit, but doing multiple short pulse will help avoid making a paste.

In a large jug or bowl, mix the nut meal + sugar with the flour. Stir in the browned butter, then gently whisk in the egg whites until smooth.

At this point you could refrigerate the batter until ready to bake; I found it easier to scoop out slightly stiffer batter into the baking molds than pouring from the jug. (You could also use a pastry bag.)

(optional) If you love chocolate with hazelnuts (me me me), pop one or two chocolate discs into each cookie.

Bake for 17 to 24 minutes in oven preheated to 350ºF — give or take, depending on your oven and size of baking molds—rotating after around 12 to 13 minutes. They are done when the centers form a dome—it’s okay if the centers crack a bit!—and the tops become lightly golden brown.

Cool for about 5 minutes; any longer in a silicone pan and the financiers are more difficult to remove as condensation forms on the cavity bottoms, making them more sticky. I usually turn the pan upside down over a rack and poke the molds’ bases to remove them.

These cookies taste better and have a nicer, moist texture the day after baking them.

For convenience, I mix the batter in the large sauce pan used for melting the butter and chocolate. This is a cakey brownie—not fudge-like, yet still moist. I admit I prefer chocolate truffles instead of fudgey brownies for that sort of chocolatey texture and intensity! (Aside: I have not tried this, but perhaps a fudgier version might result when reducing the flour (e.g., use 2 1/4 ounces instead), omitting the baking powder, and reducing the baking time (20 to 23ish minutes)—or, a combination of those alterations. Let me know how it turns out, if you try it!)

Notes on Mexican chocolates and sugars: I’ve tried out this recipe with a couple brands. I have used 2 disks of Ibarra, which is very sweet, so added only about 4 ounces of brown sugar. When I had used a less sweet brand, Moctezuma (which produces smaller disks, needing about 4 of them), I increased the brown sugar by about 1/2 an ounce. Moctezuma has several products of varying sugar levels; I especially like the bittersweet (amargo) and semisweet (semi-amargo) ones. Dark brown sugar such as molasses or Muscovado works nicely, but I’ve also played with substituting half of it with coconut sugar. Coconut sugar has a mildly salted caramel flavor that complements Mexican chocolate.

Ingredients

2 5/8 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 1/4 to 6 1/2 ounces Mexican chocolate; see note above

1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate

2 teaspoons rum; I use Bacardi Golden

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon hot red chile powder, such as an Indian or Mexican variety; cayenne is also fine—adjust to taste!

4 ounces dark brown sugar; see note above

2 eggs

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) raw pine nuts

Method

Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Grease and line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil as a sling to ease removal after baking.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl; set aside.

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and both chocolates over low heat. Stir in the rum, and remove from the heat. Using a whisk, stir in the salt, cinnamon, chile powder, and brown sugar. Try to break apart any large lumps of sugar.

Check the temperature of the chocolate mixture to make sure it isn’t higher than 115º to 120ºF, so the eggs won’t curdle. Add the eggs, one at a time, thoroughly whisking them.

Stir in the flour mixture until the batter is smooth. Pour into the baking pan, then sprinkle pine nuts over the top.

Place in the oven, lower the temperature to 325ºF. Bake 22 to 25 minutes; because I prefer a more cake-like texture, I bake for a longer period—when a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from the pan; the center of the brownie will sink a little as it cools. Cool thoroughly on a rack before slicing and serving.

This recipe is a slight variation from Homemade Liqueurs, by Dona and Mel Meilach (1979). The trick is to find sweet, flavorful cherries in the prime of their season—which for me are Bing cherries. Note that this particular liqueur might take a while to mature. I made a batch in 2013, and only now is it starting to smoothen and round out. I expect, er hope, that it’ll be even better in several months, or even in another year or three!

I use a good, mid-range vodka (Ketel or Sobieski), along with evaporated cane sugar.

My talented friend Jenifer might perform a similar experiment with brandy. I can’t wait to try her results—if any remains!

Equipment notes: Best to use a scale to weigh out the cherries and sugar. A 1-liter jar is the right size for the steeping, and a 750ml bottle, especially ones with flip-tops or previous containers for liquor, are handy for the end result.

Ingredients

1/2 pound of the best sweet cherries you could find

1/2 pound sugar; optionally, a small portion (an ounce or so) may be vanilla sugar

2 cups vodka

Method

Remove and discard any stems. Thoroughly rinse cherries, then lightly pat dry with a towel.

Trim off any brown or suspiciously rotted bits from the cherries. Cut, but don’t completely slice in half, around the circumference of each fruit; you won’t need to remove the pits, either. This will expose the inside to the vodka and sugar during steeping.

Place the cherries in the steeping jar, and cover with the sugar. Pour in the vodka, then cap off: a rubber-sealed jar is great for this process.

Place jar in a dark, cool place to steep. Check and shake every couple weeks. Usually 3 months of steeping should suffice, but after the first 2 months I start taste testing every two weeks or so.

Line a fine-meshed strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth; I use butter muslin, which is stronger, finer, and reusable. Squeeze liquids out of the mass in the cheesecloth, then dispose of the solids.

Store the cherry wishniak in a cleaned glass bottle. It can be stored at room temperature in a dark, cool pantry, or in the refrigerator. Taste test every 2 or 3 months, as it will mature over time. If it does not appeal to my tastebuds after about a year (e.g., a nasty papery taste that persists), I tend to toss it out, which sadly has occurred. That’s why it’s good to try this year after year for a few years, since crops differ all the time, especially if you want a good supply on hand to consume.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/06/12/bing-cherry-wishniak/feed/0Dark gingerbread cake with rum and citrushttp://iwaruna.com/2014/05/25/dark-gingerbread-cake-with-rum-and-citrus/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/05/25/dark-gingerbread-cake-with-rum-and-citrus/#commentsMon, 26 May 2014 04:54:41 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1458This recipe has been sitting in my files for years, and while we’re on the cusp of summer, gingerbread cake is a comforting reminder of what is behind us—and something to look forward to. This cake uses a lot of ginger, both fresh and powdered, and you could use either oranges or lemons for the citrus. It’s great by itself with a cup of tea or coffee, or served with lashings of rum-augmented whipped cream, or spoonfuls of lime or lemon curd.

Ingredients

5 1/2 ounces dark brown sugar, such as Muscavado or molasses sugar by either Billington’s or India Tree; break apart as many of the lumps as possible

1 1/2 to 2 ounces fresh ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped

1/4 cup rum, either golden or light

1/4 cup orange or lemon juice—plus the zest, set aside

3/4 cup blackstrap molasses

3/4 cup honey

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ginger powder

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cloves

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk, cold

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Method

Grease a 9×13 inch (or, 11×15 inch, for a thinner cake) baking pan, as well as a measuring jug with the vegetable oil, for easier pouring of sticky ingredients. Line the pan with parchment paper to provide a sling for easy removal. Preheat the oven to 325ºF degrees.

Sift the flour into a bowl. Gently stir in the brown sugar, and set aside.

In a cup for an immersion blender (or, a food processor), purée the fresh ginger root, rum, and citrus juice. Pour this into a large, non-reactive sauce pan.

Measure out the molasses and honey in the greased jug, then add them to the sauce pan, along with the butter. Over low heat, stir until the mixture is smooth; remove from heat.

Whisk into the sauce pan all the dry spices, citrus zest, salt, and milk. When the temperature of this mixture has cooled less than 120ºF, to avoid curdling, whisk in the eggs one at time until smooth.

Whisk in the baking soda, followed by the flour and brown sugar. The batter does not need to be perfectly smooth, so a few small dry lumps are okay.

Pour the batter into the greased pan, and place it in the oven.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes; a smaller pan will take a bit longer due to a thicker cake. Test with a skewer (no batter sticking to it) for doneness, near the beginning of the estimated time period.

Let the cake cool for at least 15 minutes before removing it from the pan and onto a rack.

Slice and serve warm, or at room temperature. Optionally garnish with whipped cream (enhanced with more rum!) and/or citrus curds. Store covered in the fridge, and it’ll become pleasantly stickier over the days (kind of like a spicy candy); allow it to come to room temperature before serving. Or wrap in parchment paper, then foil, and freeze for longer storage; defrost by baking at 275ºF (still wrapped up in both paper and foil, to avoid drying out) for about 30 minutes.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/05/25/dark-gingerbread-cake-with-rum-and-citrus/feed/0Goodbye OpenIDhttp://iwaruna.com/2014/04/10/goodbye-openid/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/04/10/goodbye-openid/#commentsThu, 10 Apr 2014 19:09:53 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1455I’ve decided to stop using OpenID on this website for several reasons:

The OpenID plugin for WordPress was last updated in 2012. I have stopped following its development, and I have also stopped trying to get past/possible issues to work properly with my site and theme. I just have not had the time for the past couple years, with other things on my plate.

Other more popular (read: more easy to use by more people) means of authentication have cropped up, like reusing sign on info from Twitter, Facebook, Disqus, etc. Not sure when I’ll add these here—I’d like to, but please refer to the last sentence in #1.

Iwaruna.com maintenance has become minimal, and will likely remain so for the time being. (“Unless something comes up,” etc. I want to continue to post about once a month, mostly food oriented stuff, because that content is ongoing.

Thank you for reading!

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/04/10/goodbye-openid/feed/0Yorkshire pudding with poultry sausages, or toad in the holehttp://iwaruna.com/2014/03/08/yorkshire-pudding-with-poultry-sausages-or-toad-in-the-hole/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/03/08/yorkshire-pudding-with-poultry-sausages-or-toad-in-the-hole/#commentsSat, 08 Mar 2014 23:23:52 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1447After many years of trying to encourage volume and height in our Yorkshire pudding attempts, I finally found a dependable recipe via Jamie Oliver. This is yet another variation on popovers, where an eggy batter needs rest (if containing gluten), a hot oven, and a well-greased pan. With sausages, this becomes the comforting dish, toad in the hole. My variation uses a bit less oil, in a broader roasting pan, with poultry-based sausages (chicken apple, or turkey apple) or sausage patties.

The above photo was taken with a larger batch: 4 1/4 ounces flour, 3 eggs, and 1 1/4 cups milk, baked in a 10-inch roasting pan.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons grape seed oil, or any vegetable oil with a high smoking point

Method

Prepare the batter ahead of time, at least 2 hours—overnight is fine. Weigh out the flour in a large glass jug, and stir in the salt.

In a smaller jug, whisk the eggs in the milk. Make hole in the flour, and slowly whisk in the milk-egg mixture. It’s okay if there are some small flour lumps, as long as you made no flour remains stuck at the bottom of the big jug. Allowing the batter to rest for a few hours helps dissolve those lumps.

When you’re ready to start baking, pour enough oil in an 8 inch square metal baking pan—about 3ish tablespoons. Brush some oil on the sides, too, if it isn’t a non-stick pan. Place pan in oven, on top of a baking sheet. Preheat oven as hot as possible without making you cough or producing smoke. For me, this was 475°F at the “speed convection” setting.

When the oven has reached the temperature, carefully remove the pan and put in the sausages (or patties). Cover with foil to avoid splatter and smoke, and place it back in the oven. Bake until lightly browned about 5 to 7 minutes, turning once, then baking for another 5 to 7 minutes.

After browning the sausages, remove the foil cover and quickly and carefully pour in the batter. Place the uncovered pan back on the baking sheet in the oven.

Bake until the batter has puffed up and has browned, about 20 to 25 minutes. To avoid burning the pudding, I usually slowly lower the oven temperature after the first 11 to 14 minutes, usually by 25° every 3 to 5 minutes, so the ending temperature is 375°F.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/03/08/yorkshire-pudding-with-poultry-sausages-or-toad-in-the-hole/feed/0Even better orange chocolate chip cookieshttp://iwaruna.com/2014/02/07/even-better-orange-chocolate-chip-cookies/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/02/07/even-better-orange-chocolate-chip-cookies/#commentsFri, 07 Feb 2014 20:00:47 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1442Or, version 2.0 of chocolate chip cookies. Over the years, I’ve found version 1.0 a bit too flat (in texture), a bit too hard-chewy, and even a bit too bitter. I’ve found a better source of chocolate chips (Guittard’s baking wafers), and a great resource for hacking the recipe.

My tastes are not the same as J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s, but his recipe and guidelines are very informative and helpful. The biggest differences are that I use a lot less salt, whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose, vanilla sugar instead of extract, and am generous with orange flavorings.

Note that I refrigerate the dough overnight, so preheating the oven would occur prior to baking. I’ve had the dough sit happily in the fridge for two days. I haven’t yet tried freezing the dough, but I could imagine doing so after forming it into balls. This recipe can be easily doubled; I used this batch size in order to maximize the number of experimental runs. O:)

Update (26 February 2014): Yep, frozen cookies bake up just fine!

Ingredients

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

zest of 1 medium orange

1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice (from the same orange, conveniently); start with less initially

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier liqueur

6 1/4 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 1/2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks; I like Guittard’s 61% cocoa semisweet cooking wafers, but if you prefer less sweetness, their 72% bittersweet cocoa wafers are also good.

Method

Brown the butter in a sauce pan. I do this over medium to medium-low heat, until the milk proteins start turning orange-red (like paprika) in color. Remove from heat, and stir in the Grand Marnier, and allow to cool while you do the next two steps.

Sift the flour and baking soda through a strainer into a medium bowl. Grind or mash (via food processor or a handy rolling pin) the brown sugar so that there aren’t any lumps; stir this into the flour bowl. Set aside.

Break up the chocolate into roughly 1/2 to 1/4-inch pieces; it’s okay if there are some larger and smaller pieces. I put the wafers in a zip back and gently smash them with a rolling pin. Set aside.

Returning to the melted butter: Stir in the orange zest—which I grate right over the sauce pan—and the juice. Set aside, again.

In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, and egg until pale and thick (densely foamy)—about 3 to 5 minutes on high speed.

Lower the speed of the mixer, and slowly add the butter-orange mixture. Increase the speed to medium and mix until incorporated. Don’t worry if the mixture looks somewhat curdled or like a lumpy frosting.

Replace the whisk with a paddle attachment. Add the chocolate and mix for 10 to 20 seconds on low speed.

Pour in all of the flour-brown sugar, and mix until just barely incorporated, on low to medium-low speed, for about 10 to 20 seconds. The resulting dough shouldn’t be smooth, but instead kind of rough-spiky looking, with specks of undissolved brown sugar; see the photo below. But if it seems really dry and floury, add a bit more orange juice.

Store the dough in a medium bowl (I reuse the flour bowl), covered, in the refrigerator, at least over night. This helps in developing good flavor and texture, so try not to skip this step.

Preheat the oven to 325ºF degrees (mine is set to “convection baking,” so if you don’t use convection, you might need to raise the temperature by 25º).

Line a baking pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Using a scoop and/or spoons, place dough blobs of about 2 tablespoons in size on the line pan. I can fit about 12 cookies on a full-sized 16-inch by 11-inch jelly roll pan.

Place pan in oven, reduce the temperature to 300ºF (or 325ºF in a non-convection oven), and bake until the edges start to brown—about 12 to 18 minutes—more time if the dough was frozen. Cool on pan for about 5 to 10 minutes before moving to a rack. Repeat for remaining dough, after the pan has cooled to the touch&dash;this batch makes about 20 to 24 cookies.

You could eat the cookies while warm—I do love melty choco!—but both the text and flavor are much better several hours later, if not the day after. They have a much less greasy feel, and the orange flavor is more pronounced the next day.

The small, non-chocolate brown specks are undissolved dark brown sugar bits, and the overall texture is kind of spiky, not smooth. Good features for a soft, tender cookie texture!

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/02/07/even-better-orange-chocolate-chip-cookies/feed/0What I read in 2013http://iwaruna.com/2014/01/05/what-i-read-in-2013/
http://iwaruna.com/2014/01/05/what-i-read-in-2013/#commentsSun, 05 Jan 2014 19:08:26 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1429Happy new year! Ring in 2014 with a listing of what I read in 2013. Part of me would like to have a similar list for other types of media, namely films (including shorts), television, and even music. I have some ancient drafts of animé I’ve viewed, which since they are presently unpublished demonstrates how far behind and erratic I’ve become with those media, alas! But perhaps one of these years, as I often say.

Comics and Art Monographs. I decided to combine art monographs with comics into a single category since I’ve so few in former, and also because they both contain visual content. Note: For some of the comics I started in the past, I have gone back and adjusted recommendations in the older posts; i.e., a couple manga and ongoing series have concluded over the past year which I ended up rather disappointed with and no longer recommend.

Comics & Art Monographs

These days I read near 60 webcomics, although many update infrequently or on hiatus (a few have completed, yay to my sense of literary closure!). I’ve found Comic Rocket quite helpful for keeping track of unfinished (for me) or ongoing webcomics—I can even setup RSS feeds through the service to read a preset number of pages on scheduled days. I hope Comic Rocket comes out with a good mobile app for iOS, as the web pages are a bit slow on mobile devices. Nevertheless, a very helpful reading tool.

I have not listed below the comics series that I started to read before 2013. The Related posts section at the bottom of this page has links to some of the previous years’ reading lists.

Yang, Gene Yuen, Gurihiru, and Heisler, Michael. Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise and Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search.

Yumi, Kiiro. Library Wars: Love and War, volume 8. As with Bunny Drop, I no longer recommend this series at this point, since it appears to falling in step with the irritatingly conventional shoujo romance tropes, rather than being more innovative. But the series will conclude soon, so the story might improve.

Long Fiction

Ashby, Madeline. vN.

Baker, Kage. In the Garden of Iden.

Buckell, Tobias. The Apocalypse Ocean.

Crispin, A.C. Starbridge.

Crispin, A.C. and O’Malley, Kathleen. Starbridge 2: Silent Dances.

DiTerlizzi, Tony. A Hero for WondLa, book 2 of the WondLa trilogy.

Dolley, Chris. Resonance.

Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina.

Howey, Hugh. Wool.

Morgenstern, Erin. The Night Circus.

Nagata, Linda. Skye Object 3270a.

Ore, Rebecca. Becoming Alien.

Pon, Cindy. Silver Phoenix.

Shorter Fiction

As mentioned in previous reading list posts, the bulk of short fiction I read, er, listen to comes from podcasts. I have listened to hundreds, and what I list here are my favorites—less than half of the total short stories I’ve read (or listened to) last year. A few come from online publications such as Tor.com and anthologies, but primarily podcasts. These are what I had listened to in 2013; I especially recommend those with — check them all out, though, and if you like them, subscribed and support them!

Non-fiction

Some of these, such as the books on food, I have primarily skimmed. But I listed them as “read” because I feel that my skimming was more thorough than checking out a few pages, i.e., while I did not read every sentence (but did read many chapters), I more or less paged through the entire work. I’ve learned that skimming could be an effective way to acquire information—not the best in most cases, of course, but worth its use as a literacy skill! (And not always as easy as one would suppose.)

America’s Test Kitchen (editors). The Science of Good Cooking: Master 50 Simple Concepts to Enjoy a Lifetime of Success in the Kitchen.

Berley, Peter and Clark, Melissa. The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen.

Cohen, Amanda. Dirt Candy, A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant. This could also go under comics, as it’s cookbook (and restaurant history) done in sequential art.

Unfinished

Beaty, Bart and Weiner, Stephen (editors). Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Independents and Underground Classics, a three-volume set. I didn’t read the entire set of books, but they are very good reference for both academic, librarian, and general readers interested in comics in graphic novel (i.e., webcomics excluded) format.

Booth, Wayne, Colomb, Gregory G., and Williams, Jeffrey M. The Craft of Research, 3rd edition (2008). Not limited to academic research, this book is helpful all sorts of research, including advice on writing research content. This plus Zinsser’s book below and Strunk and White’s Elements of Style comprise primers for anyone who needs or wants to write well, from bloggers, journalists, students, researchers, and casual and formal writers of all genres.

Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built.

Zack, Devora. Managing for People Who Hate Managing: Be a Success By Being Yourself.

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well, 30th anniversary edition. Not finished, but recommended as I’m slowly making my way through it!

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2014/01/05/what-i-read-in-2013/feed/0Buckwheat crêpeshttp://iwaruna.com/2013/12/16/buckwheat-crepes/
http://iwaruna.com/2013/12/16/buckwheat-crepes/#commentsMon, 16 Dec 2013 20:09:52 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1419Simon is the crêpe maker in this household, as he is great at making the thinnest pancakes. This recipe contains buckwheat (no relation to wheat), and is primarily for savory crêpes, as made in Brittany, France. But we’ve found that these go quite nicely with sweet fillings, such as chocolate, jam, or sugar with a squeeze of lemon.

It’s best to let the batter rest for at least an hour, so I typically make it earlier in the day, ready for dinner in the evening. It’s also fine to keep this batter in the fridge overnight—in fact, it has lasted for up to a couple days. Also note that first crêpe might end up rather pale and soggy—we call this the “sacrificial pancake” because there always seems to be too much grease for the first one—but subsequent ones should be fine, and occasional, additional oil (or butter) does not seem to result in similar “sacrifices.”

Ingredients

1 7/8 ounces (55 grams) buckwheat flour

2 ounces (60 grams) whole wheat (or white) pastry flour

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk, and maybe a bit more

(optional) a dash of cream, if using lowfat milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

oil or butter, for cooking the crêpes

Method

Place both flours and the salt in a mixing bowl, and make a well in the flour.

Add both eggs to the well, and start whisking to break them.

Slowly pour in the the milk (with optional cream) while whisking. There might be some tiny lumps of flour remaining, but that’s okay—they should disappear while the batter rests.

Allow the batter to rest in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking. Before cooking, give the batter another whisk. It should be thickish, but thinner than waffle or American pancake batter, so add more milk if needed.

Heat a wide, non-stick frying pan to high (or medium high, depending on your stovetop’s power). Add a little bit of oil or butter to the pan, wiping away any excess with a paper towel.

With a ladle, pour in about 1/3 cup of batter onto the hot pan, tipping the pan so that the batter spreads thinly and evenly.

When the crêpe starts to form bubbles in the middle and becomes brown and crisp at the edges (lifting up from the pan), it’s time to flip it over. This takes 2 or 3 minutes. Once flipped, you can add fillings, like cheese, leftover cooked vegetables or protein, chocolate, jam, etc.

Cook for another minute or so, until the bottom is lightly browned—most of the cooking was accomplished during the first side, anyhow!

Serve immediately. Or, if unfilled, allow to cool to room temperature before storing in the freezer or fridge.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2013/12/16/buckwheat-crepes/feed/0Indian puddinghttp://iwaruna.com/2013/11/16/indian-pudding/
http://iwaruna.com/2013/11/16/indian-pudding/#commentsSat, 16 Nov 2013 20:06:16 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1414Indian pudding is not to be confused with kheer, the South Asian pudding made with basmati rice. It’s made with cornmeal, so should not to be confused with corn pudding, either, which is a savory dish made with sweetcorn. No, it’s an old New England dessert I’ve heard about for years, but have never tried. The combination of ingredients appeals to me: cornmeal, maple, ginger, and molasses. True, this is by no means a traditional version—because of the ginger (and the other spices, which I don’t think were available in the 17th century North America?), golden syrup, maple sugar (instead of syrup, because lo! I found an extra packet hiding in the cupboard), and the extra rice flour I had. But it is warmingly good for cold days (and nights), and easy to make.

Overall verdict: Tastes like pumpkin pie filling, minus the crust. A bonus if you can’t or don’t want to hunt down canned pumpkin, or deal with eviscerating a winter squash.

Yes, this pudding has a skin. It is not known for its beauty. The skin is full of tasty caramelized goodness.

4 cups milk; I used lowfat, because that’s what’s always in the fridge, but whole milk would be fine.

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 eggs, lightly beaten

canola oil, for greasing

Method

Preheat the oven to 325ºF degrees; I used the convection baking setting, so you may need to increase a non-convection oven by about 25ºF. Grease a 2 to 3 quart baking dish (glass or ceramic) with the oil. To ease pouring of the molasses and golden syrup, grease a measuring cup with the oil beforehand.

Mix the dry ingredients (cornmeal, rice flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, allspice, cloves, and maple sugar) together in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Whisk in 3 1/2 cups of the milk and the heavy cream, until no dry lumps remain.

Set the pot to simmer over medium-low heat. Whisk every few minutes to avoid lump formation and sticking, and continue to simmer over low heat until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes. I keep the pot covered most of the time, to reduce the chance of skin formation

Remove pot from the heat. Whisk in the butter, molasses, golden syrup, and remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk in the eggs, since the batter should be now cool enough to avoid prematurely scrambling them.

Pour the batter into the baking dish. If the dish is on the small side, i.e., the batter comes up less than 1 inch from the top, place it on a baking sheet to catch potential drips during baking.

Place the dish in the oven, uncovered, and lower the temperature to 300ºF (or 325ºF, if without convection). Bake until the top of the pudding has just started to crack and go dark brown, about 1 hour and 10 to 15 minutes. The pudding should jiggle, but not be soupy when you gently shake it.

Serve hot or warm, with (or without) whipped cream.

]]>http://iwaruna.com/2013/11/16/indian-pudding/feed/0Cornbreadhttp://iwaruna.com/2013/10/29/cornbread/
http://iwaruna.com/2013/10/29/cornbread/#commentsTue, 29 Oct 2013 19:56:26 +0000http://iwaruna.com/?p=1411I don’t bake or eat quick breads that often, so it has taken a while for me to get around posting one of my favorites, cornbread. When I discovered blue corn flour (finely ground cornmeal) back in the 1990s, I went nuts making cornbread…then stopped for some reason. I think the following recipe has a good balance of corn nuttiness, tenderness, and moisture. This is a great companion for chili, yet also good topped with butter, or butter and honey.

I used lowfat milk and lowfat yogurt because that’s usually what I have on hand. Many similar recipes use buttermilk, so feel free to substitute that for the yogurt. If you don’t have or use the convection setting on your oven, preheat to 425ºF degrees instead of 400ºF.

I haven’t tried making this with cheese or added veggies like sweetcorn or chiles. Something for future experiments!

Method

Grease an 8-inch square baking pan (or a casserole dish of similar size, for a thicker crust) with canola oil—I tried using ghee, but it burned! Line the pan with parchment paper as a sling to ease removal after baking. Place the pan in the oven, and preheat to 400ºF degrees; I used the convection baking setting.

Mix the butter, milk, yogurt, and heavy cream in a jug. If the butter solidifies, warm it briefly in a microwave oven until melted again—but just until warm, not hot. Whisk in the eggs.

Create a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the liquids. Fold them together until just incorporated. The batter will be thick.

Take the hot pan out of the oven, and pour (more like scrape) in the batter. Place the pan back in the oven, and bake until the top is golden brown and the sides have pulled away—about 18 to 22 minutes. Poking the center with a skewer (comes out with no wet batter on it) is also a good test.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before removing the bread onto a rack. Cool further for about 10 to 15 minutes before slicing and serving, otherwise the bread will crumble too easily.